Month: August 2026

Wondrous Fun on Royal Caribbean!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hey there! It’s me, Hailey, back once again to cover all the details on our latest trip. It’s been a busy summer here in the Type A Travel Mom household filled with several fun trips, and we are still trying to hold on to summer as long as possible!

After being back home for a week following our Hilton Head and Disney World vacation (be sure to check out our last blog for all the details!), my mom and I hopped on a plane headed right back down to Florida. This time, though, we landed in Fort Lauderdale, with our final destination being a 4-night sailing out of Miami on Royal Caribbean’s Wonder of the Seas. This trip was a part of a Seminar at Sea, where my mom and I were able to learn more about Royal Caribbean and go on a tour of Perfect Day at CocoCay. While my mom has sailed with Royal Caribbean before and knows a lot about their ships and offerings, this was my first non-Disney cruise and I went in knowing next to nothing about Royal so I was super excited to see what Royal was all about!

I loved getting to see how different Royal Caribbean is from Disney Cruise Line. I mean, first off, this ship was massive! This ship, Wonder of the Seas, is a part of Royal Caribbean’s Oasis-class and was once the largest cruise ship in the world, until it was surpassed by Royal’s Icon-class ships. There were so many exciting activities to take part in, cool places to hang out, delicious places to eat, and the list goes on!

Stepping onto the ship, you immediately find yourself in the Royal Promenade, the area of the ship where the stores are located as well as several bars and the complimentary pizza restaurant, Sorrento’s. This area is super lively and fun, and it even had live music playing on many nights of the sailing. Right after we boarded the ship we stopped by Spotlight Karaoke to pick up the souvenir cups for the soda package that we purchased for this sailing, as well as our WOW bands. The drink cups can be used at the Coca-Cola Freestyle machines located at the buffet and quick-service style locations around the ship. These cups were very nice and didn’t leak at all, and we both made sure to get our money’s worth in Dr. Pepper throughout our sailing! The WOW bands (kind of like Disney’s MagicBands) were really convenient and comfortable, and could be used to get into your room or make purchases. However, you still needed to have your actual SeaPass card to get on and off the ship at ports.

After we got all of our gear ready, it was time to head up to the Windjammer buffet for lunch. Overall, the buffet had some great options, including potato leek soup which is always a must for me on embarkation day! One thing that really stood out to me was the layout of the buffet in comparison with Disney Cruise Line’s buffets (Cabanas on the older ships and Marceline Market on the newer ships). Disney Cruise Line’s buffets are somewhat linear, meaning that you kind of have to jump in the line whenever you see a break. But the Windjammer had a really interesting layout that was more spread out and included many little buffet “islands” that I think were much more effective in distributing the crowds.

After having some lunch, we explored the pool deck area. I really liked the layout of the pools and the variety of areas you could hang out in. And there was an impressive variety in the types of chairs everywhere too! The adults-only Solarium area was very pretty but the phrase “human greenhouse” comes to mind, because it gets super hot and humid in there during the day with little airflow. It was a very nice place to hang out in the evening though!

We were able to go to our room right at 1pm, and as we were going to our room, we saw all of our luggage already out in the hall. That’s like crazy fast! The room itself was very spacious, but the bathroom was on the smaller side, as can be expected with a cruise ship bathroom. One thing that I really loved (and Disney needs to make note of!) were the chairs on the balcony. The chairs themselves were pretty standard, but they had a separate footrest that was such a nice addition. These footrests made for a much more comfortable and enjoyable time on the balcony.

If you know us, then you know how much we LOVE doing the trivia on Disney cruises. So, of course, we had to try out some trivia! We decided to try out the general knowledge trivia, and we had such a great time. I loved the way that Royal Caribbean does trivia, which involves your phone. Disney is still using pencils and paper for their trivia, but I think they need to develop a system like Royal! For this trivia, you scanned a QR code with your phone, entered some info about yourself, and you were ready to play! The trivia itself had several categories with a few questions each, and the faster that you answered a question, the more points you got. No time for looking up the answer! I didn’t do too good (two of the categories were James Bond and Prince, and my knowledge for both of these is just about nonexistent), but my mom got second place! She won some Royal Caribbean zipper pulls and a highlighter, which were some pretty cool souvenirs.

We continued to explore the ship for the rest of the day, including areas like Central Park and Boardwalk. Central Park is filled with so many plants and trees that it’s hard to believe that you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean! I think this would be the perfect spot to hang out if you are a little scared of cruising or sailing out in the ocean, because it makes you feel like you are back on land. There are also a few specialty dining locations in Central Park, more on that later! The Boardwalk is another open area of the ship like Central Park, but with a carnival of theme. This is the area of the ship where you will find the rock climbing walls, the Aqua Theater, and the carousel. The Ultimate Abyss ends here as well, which is a dry slide that slides down 10 floors, starting on deck 16 and ending on deck 6.

The next day was spent at Perfect Day at CocoCay, Royal Caribbean’s private island. While we were here, we went on a tour of the island as a part of the Seminar at Sea. The island has areas that any guest can access, as well as several areas that are paid upgrades to access. On the tour, we were able to tour the three paid areas: Hideaway Beach, Coco Beach Club, and Thrill Waterpark. Hideaway Beach is an adults-only area that has more of a party vibe, Coco Beach Club is a more upscale and quiet area, and Thrill Waterpark is where you will find 13 waterslides and a wave pool. All three areas looked like a lot of fun!

After the tour was over, we spent the rest of our time in the Chill Island area, one of the areas that anyone can visit. We had rented a beach bed for the day, which was a nice spot to hang out and stay out of the sun throughout the day. The beach bed rental came with the beach bed itself, as well as two lounge chairs, two floating beach mats, and a cooler of water bottles. The rental also came with towels which, on Royal Caribbean ships, you normally have to check out and check back in, or pay a fee if you don’t return them.

Another thing that is interesting about CocoCay (and different from Disney’s private islands), is that CocoCay can have two ships docked there at the same time. On the day we visited the island, the other ship was Jewel of the Seas. It was really neat to be able to see the size difference between an older Royal ship (Jewel, on the right) and one of their newer ships (Wonder, on the left). If you zoom in you can even see the little people walking on the dock, which really helps to put the massive size of the ships in perspective!

The next day was our Nassau day. For most people, Nassau is a one and done, and that includes my family. I haven’t been off the ship in Nassau in years, we always treat it like a sea day and spend our time exploring the ship. However, Royal Caribbean has opened a new beach and pool area that is exclusive to guests sailing on their ships, called Royal Beach Club Paradise Island. Access to this area is not included, so you have to purchase a day pass in order to visit it. Remember that little strip of land with the run-down lighthouse on it, on the same side of the port as the Atlantis hotel? Well, the lighthouse is still there, but you can now spot the bright colors of the Royal Beach Club area as well as a large Royal Caribbean logo. It is such a convenient location, and you can get some great views of the ship while you are there!

To get to the Royal Beach Club, you can follow the signage as you leave the ship which takes you to a little dock where you will board a ferry, which takes you straight over to the area. The ferry designs are super cute, and each one has an adorable name, including: Sassy Starfish, Twisted Turtle, Flirty Flamingo, Coral Calypso, and Lucky Lizard. We were on the Sassy Starfish (as you can see from the life ring in the picture below), and you can also spot the blue Lucky Lizard already docked at the Royal Beach Club!

When we arrived at the Royal Beach Club, we decided to stick around the pool in the Party Cove section for the day. We got some great, front row seats at the swim-up bar pool that is closest to Paradise Beach. And let me tell you, the pool here has such a great view! If you look over the edge of the pool, you are looking straight towards the beach. So you can enjoy watching the waves without having to worry about getting all sandy!

Similar to CocoCay, there were two Royal Caribbean ships docked in Nassau on this day. The other ship was Oasis of the Seas. These ships are quite similar in size, with Oasis being just a bit smaller than Wonder, so the size difference wasn’t quite as noticeable as it was when comparing Jewel with Wonder. Having two ships also meant that more guests from Oasis were able to come to the Royal Beach Club, which made the area get super busy in the afternoon. But we did get to enjoy a nice, quiet morning in the area, which we both really enjoyed!

That night, my mom participated in The Price is Right gameshow that they host on the ship. This game also is played by scanning a QR code with your phone, similar to the trivia, but an extra fee is required in order to play this game. My mom has always loved the idea of playing this game on the ship, so there was no way that we were going to miss it! See the picture below for her cute little hamster avatar! Everyone got super into the game and it was a great time, but unfortunately my mom didn’t get to “come on down.” Fingers crossed for next time!

The next day was our sea day, and my mom had to go to some classroom training as a part of the Seminar at Sea so that she could learn even more about Royal Caribbean. Unfortunately, I couldn’t attend this with her so I spent the day exploring the ship and getting a ton of videos/pictures for social media content. Enjoy these cute little towel animals that I saw on my adventures!

During our sailing, we tried out two of the specialty dining restaurants. The first was Izumi, a Japanese restaurant, and the second was Giovanni’s Italian Kitchen. Neither of us were insanely impressed by Izumi, but the food at Giovanni’s was very nice. We also ended up eating at the buffet for the majority of our meals, because the menus at the main dining restaurants didn’t really appeal to us (we are both vegetarian, but I sometimes experiment with different types of fish). However, we both loved El Loco Fresh, a buffet style Mexican restaurant. The only downside was that it closed at 5:30pm, which was generally too early for us to be able to have dinner here. Other than that, I loved getting some quesadillas to snack on, and their guacamole is delish!

The three shows that were offered on our sailing were The Effectors II: Crash ‘n’ Burn (stage musical), inTENse (water show in the AquaTheater), and 365: The Seasons on Ice (ice skating show). When we were waiting for inTENse to start, it ended up being cancelled due to lightning in the area, and that was the final performance of this show during the sailing so we never got to see this one. We did get to see the other two shows, and The Effectors II was a pretty cheesy superhero show with a simple storyline. However, the ice skating show, 365, was really impressive. The show went through each season, and their outfits and music changed to fit with each one. They even used the Game of Thrones theme during their winter performance, which I really enjoyed!

After a few fun and action-packed days, it was time to head back home. We spent the day at a hotel in Fort Lauderdale because we had a late flight. After some delays and a super late night, we finally made it home. After being to Florida twice in the span of just a few weeks, we were both ready to spend some time at home and getting back into our normal routines.

I had a lot of fun learning about Royal Caribbean and we had such a great time exploring the ship! Can’t wait for our next cruise vacation!

Until next time!

Hailey

Summertime HHI+WDW fun!

/ Amber Benson / Leave a comment

Hello again! This is Hailey, and I’m here to catch you up on the details of our latest trip to Hilton Head Island and The Most Magical Place on Earth!

The original plan for this trip was to be our first summer trip to visit Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort, since we have visited the island many times, but only in the off-season. But we ended up giving in to the FOMO and decided to cut the HHI portion of the trip shorter, so that we could add on a few nights at WDW. We had to drive down to Hilton Head anyway, so why not just drive a few more hours to get to Disney World? That was our logic, at least!

The trip started out with some lovely pool and beach time at the Beach House portion of the resort in Hilton Head. Like I said, we had only ever been here in the cooler months before, so we haven’t spent much time actually enjoying the pools and ocean before. I have been in the pools a few times before, but I was generally shivering the whole time! As my mom likes to say: the pools are heated, but the air is not!

This time around, the pool water felt a bit more like bath water. So not as refreshing as I might have hoped in the hot and humid South Carolina weather. But we all still had a great time anyway! Plus, the Beach House serves Mickey Pretzels, which are such a fun pool snack!

After spending a few days in Hilton Head, we packed up the van and continued the ride to Florida. A few hours later, we arrived at Disney’s BoardWalk, checked in to the resort, and made it to our room! Our room had a beautiful view overlooking the resort’s pool, and we could even see Tower of Terror off in the distance! Once we were all settled into our room, we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. The July heat in Florida is no joke, especially in the afternoon. Taking frequent breaks is a must!

One of the main things we wanted to accomplish on this trip was trying out/seeing a few new things that we hadn’t experienced before. The first of these things was trying The Beak and Barrel, the pirate-themed lounge located right beside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. This was such a cool experience! We were seated right at the bar and had a great view of the area where Rummy the parrot frequently comes out to share stories and talk to the guests. There were so many little easter eggs and nods to the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, it was so fun to try to spot them. For alcoholic drinks, we tried the Barrels Ablaze and the Hibiscus Rum Punch Royale. I decided that I wanted to try one of the non-alcoholic offerings, called the Treasure Trove. The Treasure Trove comes with one of two types of drinks, I chose the tropical infusion of sprite, pineapple, mango, and guava option, which was delicious! It is also served with a vanilla cake plank, chocolate cannonball, and caramel popcorn, all of which were really good. We decided to also try out the Island Provisions, which was three different types of chips served with four different dips. Overall, I loved this experience and the food/drinks were great! And shoutout to bartender Jimbo, who made the experience even more immersive!

We also had to hop on Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which had recently reopened after being closed for refurbishment. During this refurbishment, the ride vehicles, blasters, and targets were upgraded. The blasters are now handheld, allowing for more movement, and light up in either red or green, which I think helps you aim better and keep track of the targets you are hitting, which also light up in the corresponding color. If you look at your ride picture from this ride in My Disney Experience, the picture now shows your score, rank, the total number of targets you hit, and the special targets you hit. I think this is such a cool feature! I hit 137 targets, but apparently I hit all the lower scoring targets because my dad hit 89 targets and scored over 100 thousand more than me. I can’t wait to ride it again!

To end the night, we watched the evening parade for the first time, Disney Starlight: Dream the Night Away. All of the light effects in the costumes and the parade floats were really fun. The final float was my favorite, I loved all of the characters on the train and the little face on the train was so adorable!

The next day, we visited Epcot. While we were there, we made sure to check out Soarin’ Across America. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States, the ride was changed to feature locations all across the United States. These locations include the Kennedy Space Center, Mount Rushmore, Grand Canyon, Diamond Head, and more! It was fun to try to guess all of the locations as we flew through them. I like that they have been changing up the locations in this ride lately, and I enjoy being able to “visit” different locations than the usual ones!

The other new thing that we wanted to try out on our Epcot day was GEO-82, a 21+ bar and lounge. The drinks at this bar are pretty different from those you might find anywhere else. The drinks are innovative, and kind of bizarre. My dad has been on an old fashioned kick lately, so he was really excited to try out this new spot and their Brown Butter Old-Fashioned, which he really enjoyed. We also tried out two of the small bite offerings, the charcuterie board and the cannellini hummus, both of which were delicious. My mom and I also got a drink to share, which was the Electron… and yeah that was pretty gross to be honest. Unless you are a fan of mezcal, I would advise that you steer clear of this drink. This is one of those innovative yet bizarre drinks, which I would say also includes their Tuscan Olive Oil Martini and Pink Peppercorn Clover Club drinks. We didn’t try either of those, but the reaction of a nearby guest to the latter would suggest that it’s not too tasty either. Overall, we did really like the food and atmosphere (and the view was great!), but my mom and I aren’t super adventurous drinkers so we weren’t in love with the drink offerings here.

Our park for the next day was Hollywood Studios, and while we were here we made sure to check out the newly reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Starring The Muppets. I liked seeing more vibrant colors in this area, and the theming in the ride queue was cool. But we didn’t get to see the entire pre-ride show, so that was kind of a bummer. Other than that, the ride itself was the same besides adding in different set pieces near the ride’s track. Honestly, I’m not a Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster fan and never have been, so this was a one and done for me.

We also tried out one of the new missions on Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run. The missions have been redone to include the Mandalorian and Grogu, after the release of the new Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu film. One of the exciting changes that came with this update was that the engineers now have a larger role to play. Before, the engineer was the least exciting role of the three (the other two being gunner and pilot). But now, the engineers get to use the tractor beam, hang out with Grogu, choose the planet that your mission goes to (Bespin, Coruscant, or Endor), and basically just push a lot more buttons than they got to before. We visited Endor this time, but I’m hoping for Coruscant next!

The last new and exciting thing we did while we were here was see the outdoor part of the new Animation Courtyard area. The indoor portion doesn’t open until September 14th, so we are hoping to check that out next time! Just near the new Sorcerer Mickey hat you can spot some super fun foot/hand/paw prints from classic Disney characters. My favorites were Marie, Toulouse, and Berlioz, so cute!

This area also has roaming characters, so you never know who you might meet! We saw Donald Duck, Moana, Rapunzel, Goofy, Chip, and Dale. Chip and Dale were playing the cutest game of hide and seek! It is so cool seeing the characters out and about, so that they can freely interact with the guests. I’m excited to see how this area continues to develop!

Our final day in the parks was spent at Animal Kingdom. While we were here, we saw the Zootopia: Better Zoogether! show, which is a super cute show and should be on your to-do list! I love the theming in the queue and the little displays that they have in the waiting area, the jewelry display from “Pawdora” is so clever!

We also visited Bluey’s Wild World at Conservation Station. Bluey is such a funny and cute show, my whole family loves watching it (including my cat, Tony!). However, I would say that this experience is more geared towards the younger fans. The main Bluey-themed events here are the Bluey and Bingo meet-and-greet, as well as a dance party. I think it would be perfect for the younger kids who want to have some fun with Bluey and Bingo.

After our short day here, it was time to start the drive back home. We were all relieved to be back home and out of the insane Florida heat. We had a few nice and cool days at home before our Virginia weather warmed up a good bit too, but hey, I’m not complaining because I’m not ready for fall yet! Keep an eye out for another blog coming soon, about our recent Royal Caribbean cruise!

Until next time!

Hailey